I read a great article in "Today's Parent" today (May 2009). It outlined a public school, Prince of Wales, in Barrie, Ontario where they did away with homework. Guess what? The kids' marks improved. Tougher "back to basics" curricula and standardized testing are behind some of the increase in homework.
The article presented author (The Homework Myth) Alfie Kohn's position that homework should be done away with until high school and then homework should mean something: thoughtful analysis and less drill. I cannot begin to express how strongly I like this idea. Still, my eldest has a teacher who doesn't believe in homework and she's received a ton of grief from parents -- in Grade 5! Meanwhile, my son in Grade 3, easily has an hour a night. I won't let him do more than 30 minutes. It's absolute insanity. The sheets are largely drills. Can you imagine? Reams and reams of rote learning for an ADHD kid with a bare minimum of one-on-one help in the classroom. There are nights when we could easily spend 2 hours completed what he couldn't do in class.
The article also cites a study out of Duke University that suggests that overloading kids with homework is not associated with higher grades. There is a limit.
I hope this is the beginning of a new trend of study...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment